The February 17th Martyrs Brigade, the Libyan militia employed by the U.S. government to provide security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, featured an al-Qaeda flag in the original banner for a Facebook page it maintains. That banner was posted on June 10, 2012, i.e. just three months before the September 11, 2012 attack on the mission. Moreover, several entries on the Facebook page make clear the group’s sympathy for Ansar al-Sharia, the allegedly al-Qaeda-linked militia that has been widely accused of perpetrating the attack. Like the banner, still other entries make clear the group’s sympathy and admiration for al-Qaeda as such, as well as for other al-Qaeda affiliates like the Syrian al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra.

For the details, see my new article at Newsmax.com here (including a large dose of DC-side reporting by David Patten).